Tracking Down the Culprit
by MovieFan747
Summary: Set just after Lily releases her single, "Don't Tell Me What to Do", Lily receives a phone call that could put an end to Radio Free Roscoe for good. R & R!


**Tracking Down the Culprit  
**

**Rating: PG, for some language and possible romantic situations.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Radio Free Roscoe, or anything mentioned here except the plot. (I _wish_ I owned RFR... then I could play with those boys anytime I wanted -evil grin-) But yeah, don't own anything. Don't sue me, please.**

**Summary: Our favourite RFR gang are near the end of their ninth-grade year. Just so everyone's aware, it takes place just after Lily released her single, "Don't Tell Me What to Do". Right now Robbie has that thing (whatever _that_ is) with Kim Carlisle, Travis is still dating Audrey, but both he and Ray are fighting over Lily. And River Pierce and Parker are in this story because, well, I want them to be! Basically, Lily gets a phone call that could easily put an end to Radio Free Roscoe for good.**

**Author's Note: Here I am, writing another story! Wow, it's been so long since I posted anything on - almost a year. The last fic I wrote was a School of Rock fic, so if any of my readers from SoR have come over to check out this fic, awesome! If you're not familiar with Radio Free Roscoe, shame on you. You should be. For those of you who are RFR fans, and just popped in here to check out this story, thank you! Hopefully everyone will enjoy this. It's an idea that's been floating around in my head for awhile, and I finally decided to capture it down in writing. Please, read and review! **

**Chapter 1: Mysterious Phone Call**

One Sunday in the middle of April, Lily Randall was bored. She'd already done her homework, checked her email, written a song, and read two magazines - and it was only 1 p.m. Nothing was on TV, and it was raining out, so she just wasn't in the mood to walk into town to rent a DVD.

_God_, she thought to herself, flopping down on her bed, _why did my parents ever decide to settle down in a town so small it doesn't even have a movie theatre?_

Lily sighed and pulled out her RFR notebook. It was where she wrote down everything related to RFR - new bands she wanted to play on the air, details for events they were hosting, ideas for upcoming segments, that sort of thing. There was information in there from way back - as she flipped through the pages, she saw notes on their first radio shows, the underground party they'd hosted at the beginning of their grade 9 year, ideas for the "My Pal Pronto" segment, even campaign lists from her Think Pink class president campaign. It all brought a smile to her face. Radio Free Roscoe was hosting another underground party next Saturday night at Mickey's and Lily was in charge of coming up with a playlist. Of course, she hadn't started it yet. _Might as well do that - it'll get Robbie off my back,_ Lily reasoned.

Lily was right in the middle of drawing up a pros & cons list for playing Simple Plan at the party (**pros:** Roscoe High had a big Simple Plan fanbase; their songs were easy to dance to - **cons:** too mainstream?; possibly teased by the guys) when her cell phone rang. She picked it up off her bedside table and flipped it open, wondering which of the guys' faces she'd see smiling at her from the caller display. Surprisingly, it wasn't Robbie, Travis, or Ray. Nor did she see Audrey or Parker's faces on the screen. All the screen showed her were four words: "NUMBER NOT ON FILE". _Weird,_ she thought to herself.

"Hello?" Lily asked into the phone.

"Hi, Shady Lane," the female voice came from the other end. She didn't say it like a question.

Lily almost choked in surprise. "W-what? Who is this?"

The caller on the other end laughed. "It doesn't matter. Trust me, that's going to be the least of your worries."

"Who is this?" Lily demanded, a little pissed.

"Now, I think it's a little early to reveal that one. You kept your secret for so long - now it's my turn," said the girl. "The only question I have, Shady Lane, is how you managed to do it."

"Do what?" asked Lily, worried. Who on earth was this? And how did she know Lily was Shady Lane?

"Kept your identity a secret for so long," replied the girl on the other end. "I mean, seriously. Once I put the pieces together, I couldn't believe I hadn't figured it out sooner. Lily Randall is Shady Lane."

"Okay, now you're pissing me off. Who the hell is this!" Lily almost yelled into the phone.

"You'll find out soon enough. Listen up, girl. You and your fellow DJs are toast. I figured out who you are easy enough; it won't take me long to figure out who the guys are, too. Since you're most often seen in the company of males anyway," the caller laughed again.

"So you don't know who Smog, Pronto, and Question Mark are?"

"Not yet," she said, but it was clear that the girl had every intention to find out. "So go ahead - call up your friends and hold some emergency RFR meeting or something. I don't care. I found out who you are, Shady Lane. What's stopping me from telling the rest of Roscoe?"

"You - you wouldn't," Lily stammered.

"Wouldn't I?" the caller sneered. "As much as I'd love to stick around for more scintillating conversation, I've got to run. Oh, and don't worry - you'll be hearing from me again soon."

Click.

Lily pulled the phone away from her ear in shock. What the hell was that? Who had just called her? Whoever it was, they'd figured out that she was Shady Lane. RFR was in deep trouble.

Lily hit #1 on her speed dial - Ray. After two rings, Ray picked up. "It's go time!" he exclaimed, his standard greeting.

"Ray! It's Lily," she said.

"Hey Lil, what's up?" exclaimed Ray. You could hear his grin right through the phone lines.

"Listen, you need to get over here NOW. Something really important happened. I need to see you, and Travis and Robbie too," Lily said. "It's urgent!"

"Well, Travis is here with me - we're doing a history project on some war thingy." In the background, Lily could hear Travis crying "the Boar War, Ray - I've told you that ten times!" "We can come over now, if you want," offered Ray, ignoring Travis.

"Good - can you call Robbie too?" asked Lily.

"No problem, Lily. See ya in ten!" said Ray, and hung up.

Twelve minutes later (in true Pronto fashion), Lily could hear Ray, Robbie, and Travis thumping up the stairs to her room. They burst in without knocking, as per usual. Robbie flopped down on her bed and picked up her playlist. "Lily - Simple Plan? Come on, now - that's too Cougar Radio!" he exclaimed in disgust. Ray sauntered over to Lily's picture wall and picked up one of the two of them. "Aw, I love this one! You remember, we were seven, and your mom had just bought us matching hats?" he laughed, and placed it back on the wall so it covered almost all of a picture of Lily and Travis goofing around at the mall. Travis, meanwhile, had seated himself at her computer and was clicking around some space-related website. "I've just got to check the time for the meteor shower tonight," he mumbled to whoever was listening - which, technically, was no one. Lily grabbed her head, exasperated. _Why are my best friends boys?_ she wondered.

"I just got a phone call asking for Shady Lane!" she blurted out.

That certainly got the boys' attention.

"But... none of us called you," said Ray, with a confused look on his face.

"I know that!" Lily exclaimed. "It was a girl's voice."

"And..." Travis prompted, waiting for her to continue.

"And, she said that she couldn't believe she hadn't figured out who Shady Lane is sooner. She said it was unbelievably easy. She said it was just a matter of time before she figured out who you guys are too, and that we are four dead DJs. Then she said she'd be in touch with me soon, and hung up," Lily told them.

"Oh my God," Robbie said quietly. "Did you recognize her voice?"

"No," Lily admitted. "I mean, I guess it sounded a little familiar, but I definitely couldn't place it."

"Kim Carlisle!" Ray burst out. "It had to be her. She's such a snake, and she hates RFR!"

"Come on," Robbie put in immediately, "Kim wouldn't do that. She hates RFR, sure, but she wouldn't make threatening phone calls."

"I don't know..." Travis said thoughtfully.

"Well, maybe it was Parker! Or Audrey!" Robbie suggested.

"Audrey wouldn't do that!" Travis said at once, defending his girlfriend.

"Besides, both Parker and Audrey's numbers are in my address book, and 'Number not on file' came up when the person called. Which is weird, because nobody but them, you guys, and my parents know my cell number," Lily told them.

"Well, can you 69 it?" Robbie wanted to know.

"Umm... I called Ray right after, so it won't work," Lily admitted sheepishly.

The four of them lasped into silence. No one knew what to do. They'd spent almost the whole year talking on the radio, using their anonymity to speak their minds. Radio Free Roscoe had allowed them to be considered cool, if only for one hour, five days a week. And now, with one phone call, they were very close to losing all that.

"What are we going to do?" Lily murmured.

"I don't know," Ray replied.

"Listen, we're going to have to investigate into this. Think about the girls we know and how we're going to get to the bottom of this," Travis said rationally. "But now, Ray and I really have got to go - this history project is due tomorrow and all we've done it made a mound out of paper mâché."

"I helped," Ray said proudly. Lily thwacked him on the arm.

Ray and Travis headed out her bedroom door, and Robbie began to follow. But he paused when the others were out of sight and turned back to Lily. "I don't think it's Kim," Robbie said to her. "She wouldn't do this to me."

"She wouldn't know she's doing it to you," Lily said sadly. "But for your sake, Robbie, I hope it's not her."

Three blocks away, Kim Carlisle sat at her bedroom desk, smirking at her cellphone.

**A/N: So there we have it, the first chapter! What will the RFR gang do? How will they go about figuring out who placed the mysterious phone call to Lily? Stay tuned, and send me reviews, and I'll let you know!**


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